Garbage or refuse can.



Patented Apr.V I5, |902.

E. R. GILMAN.

GARBAGE 0B REFUSE CAN.

(Application led Jan. 22, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDIVARD R. GILMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE IRON CLAD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEIV YORK.

GARBAGE OR REFUSE CAN.

SIPLECIFIICA'JTIONy forming part of Letters Patent No. 697,473, dated Aprilv 15, 1902. Application filed January 22, 190].. Serial No. 44,240. (No model.)

To all whom, t may conce-Wt.-

Beit known that I, EDWARD R. GILMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city and county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garbage or Refuse Cans, of which the fol- -lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to garbage or refuse ro cans particularly adapted for street use by street-cleaning departments; and the object of the invention is to provide a can of such formation and with an improved construction of stops or` stop-faces, whereby it can be quickly and readily nested with cans of similar size and construction, so that a plurality of cans may be nested without the sticking or wedging of the one within the other, and thereby enable a large number of such cans to be zo carried in piles from point to point in one conveyance.

A further object of the invention is to provide the can with improved stops or stopfaces formed from the metal of the can and loe 5 cated in position to bear or rest upon the top or edge of another can.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, Figure lis a side view of this improved can. Fig. 2 is a 3o sectional view of a pair of cans nested in such manner that the same can be readily separated. Fig.'3 is an enlarged sectional view of one portion of the can illustrating one form of the present improvement. Fig. 4 is a view of a portion of the can illustrating a somewhat-dierent form of the present improvement, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view of portions of a pair of cans nested and provided with the stop-faces shown in Fig. 4.

Similar characters of :reference designate corresponding parts in the different figures of the drawings.

So far as I am aware garbage or refuse cans so constructed that they can be readily nested without -the sticking or wedging together of such cans had never been placed upon the market prior to the improvement shown and described in Patent No. 649,258, dated May S, 1900, granted t0 the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company, to whom the present improvement has been assigned, it vhaving been the practice, at least in New York city, up to the time of such invention to use bags, carried by a suitable wheeled frame, for the reception of street-refuse. Prior to such patent when it was attempted to nest tapering cans or receptacles they frequently became tightly wedged or stuck together, so that if they were made of comparatively large size and of considerable. weight it was ofttimes impossible to remove one from the other without considerable labor and much loss of time, suchcans wedging togetherin a similar mannerfto tableglasses, which although comparatively'small frequently become so wedged that it is almost impossible to separate them. For practical use by street-cleanin g departments it is necessary that a large number of cans be carried from point to point in one conveyance, and in rder to do this a number of cans must be so nested that they can be readily disassembled without the necessity of working with the cans in order to accomplish this end, which would require the employment of considerable labor, as well as much loss of time, and consequently delay and expense. This result has been attempted by making the cans of dierent sizes. This, however, has not been found practicable, since in order to reassemble the cans it was first necessary that may hundreds be assorted, which necessitates considerable loss of time. however, itfollows that some of the cans must necessarily be of less capacity than others, since the largest can be no longer or larger than can be readily handled.

The object of the present invention therefore is to provide a garbage or refuse can (ofttimes called an ash-can) of such construe-V tion that its companion cans may be of the same size and` construction, and consequently of the same capacity, while all of such cans whether assembled before or not can be readily nested and disassembled without the sticking or wedging of one relatively to an- Aside from this, f

, instance with another.

shown and described and which may be its preferred form, if desired, the can 2, as also its companion cans, is made tapered from top to bottom and is provided with means constructed to act as stops or stop-faces, so that when a plurality of cans are nested they will be held apart with a spacebetween the bottoms and the sides thereof, thereby to positively insure a loose nesting of the same, and conseqnentlyprevent the sticking and wedging of the cans together, sometimes due to irregularities in construction, as Well as to other causes. 'ihis means in the present instance comprises a part formed integral with the can, and therefore formed of the metal thereof, whereby it is rigid with the can, and in the form shown comprises portions bent or pressed out from the sides of such can in position and having suiiieient area in cross-section to rest upon the top or edge of a similar can, these bent or pressed-out portions forming stops or stop-faces 4, located at any desired or preferred point, but shown in the present instance located adjacent to the npper edge of the can and sufficiently near the top thereof to preferably permit one can to extend into its companion can nearly its full length. These stop-faces are obtained in one form by providing the can with an annular projection 5, formed from the metal of the can, whereby the can is not only provided with stop-faces in position to rest upon the top or edge of another can, but is also reinforced in a material way, since such stopfaces also act as a hoop to reinforce the can, and thus dispense with the necessity of providing an independent hoop. In this form, since the can-body even in the shape shown is ordinarily understood to have a plurality of sides, the hoop may be considered to form a stop at each side of the can and thus form oppositely-located stops,one connected in this Inside the upper edge of the can may be placed, if desired, a hoop or plate 7, having an internal diameter substantially the same as the outer diameter of the can below the stop-faces and adapted to embrace an inserted can just below its point of support, and thus steady the cans when nested and prevent lateral movement.

In the form shown in Figs. t and 5 the stopfaces 4b are formed without extending the projections 5b entirely around the can. In either form the stop-faces may be formed more or less angular, substantially as shownin Fig. 3, or curved, substantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

In practice, if desired, the recess 5' on the interior of the can formed by the projection 5n may be suitably filled or closed-as, for instance, by the use of an interiorly-located hoop or band 5 or other plate forming a substantially fiush inner wall-whereby the caking of dirt and refuse in such recess is prevented. This also reinforces the stops to prevent the same from bending when one can is heavily thrown into another. The hoop or band 5 acts to communicate the load from the stop-face 53 to the face 5", formed from the inner-wall face of the can, this permitting two integral portions of the wall of the can to have the strain equalized between them. These stops may be formed of snicient area in cross-section so that they will not only rest upon the upper edge of avcoinpanion can, but extend over such edge, so that should the walls of the can become bent or dented adjacent to the stops they will still be of suicient width or area at the under side thereof to rest upon the edge of a companion can, and so positively insure the proper nesting ot' the cans, and so prevent the tipping or slanting of one relatively to another to any great extent, and consequently prevent the formation of tipping or slanting piles or pyramids of cans.

The can is provided with means for lifting the same, such as a pair of handles G, located in any suitable position, but shown herein located above the stop-faces et, so as not to in terfere with the working thereof, such handles being secured to the can in any desired manner-as, for instance,by riveting the same thereto. In the present instance, whether the stop-faces are integral, rigid, or otherwise secured to the can, they are nevertheless formed independent of and free of connection with the handles.

From the foregoing it will be seen that in that form of the improvement shown in the drawings the stop-faces are integral with, and therefore formed from the metal of, the can and are effective to hold the cans apart when nested, and thus positively insure the loose nesting of the same at all times.

I claim as my invention- 1. A nesting garbage or refuse can, having tapered side walls and provided with stopfaces integral with and projecting from said tapered Walls and located in position to rest or bear upon the top or edge of another can of the same size and construction, and handles located above the said stop-faces, the said stop-faces serving as a means whereby the said cans may be loosely nested and also serving to separate the handles on adjacent cans so that a large free space is provided between the handles of adjacent cans.

2. A nesting refuse-can having tapered side walls and provided with means located in position to bear or rest upon the top or edge of another can of the same size and construction and integral with and projecting beyond the normal wall of the can and forming upper and lower walls merging into the inner wall of the can, and a hoop or band intermediate said npper and lower walls and effective to equalize the load.

3. Anesting refuse-can having tapered side walls and provided with means located in position to bear or rest upon the top or edge of IOO IIO

face substantially Hush with the inner Wall 'of the can whereby :i substantially continuous and unbroken inner surface is provided.

.Y EDWARD R. GILMAN.

. lWitnesses: I ELIZABETH COCHRAN SEAMAN, l C. A.-WEED. 

